


Fundamentals of Pair Bonding

by Pookaseraph



Series: CMUniverse [12]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Carnegie Mellon, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Making Out, Pittsburgh, Protective Older Brothers, pop culture references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-06
Updated: 2012-01-06
Packaged: 2017-10-29 00:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/314035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookaseraph/pseuds/Pookaseraph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony recovers from his double date and takes Anya home with him for the night, they talk slightly more serious things than Tony is used to dealing with and have some bonding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fundamentals of Pair Bonding

**Author's Note:**

> Non-USian notes for comprehension:
> 
> FAFSA: Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It's a form you can fill out to become eligible for various government financial aid packages for college. The moderately-to-super rich generally wouldn't even bother to fill these out as their aid more often comes directly from the school based on merit, not financial need, or through various grants/scholarships/etc that come through writing essays.
> 
> Alcoa: an aluminum manufacturing/processing company based in Pittsburgh

Tony could tell that Charles and Erik were... straining. Tony was, in general, not a fan of being dishonest about your sexuality, but then again, his sexuality generally was 'more please' and in a way that very few people - outside of protective older brothers - were going to give him any shit for. So, even though Erik doubtless was not interested in letting Tony out of his sight with Anya in tow, Erik and Charles' 'date' had really had to be more 'oh really, this is my friend Charles' because of Anya.

"Well, dinner was lovely, so Anya and I are going to go kick around in the fountain in front of the Museum. You two have fun." He gave Charles a hug and Erik a pat on the back - Anya hugged them both - and then the two of them ducked out onto the street and away from dinner.

"It's really too cold for that, Tony."

He smiled. "Yes, I know, but they needed some alone time." He shouldn’t say things like that, not really, but Anya wouldn’t take it that way anyway.

"More like you wanted some alone time," Anya answered, but she didn't protest as they headed across the street and settled down to sit next to the - currently inactive - fountain. "Are you alright?"

Tony ruffled her hair. "Yes, I'm fine, your brother hasn't murdered me and I doubt he will."

She scooted off of the ground and landed on his lap, clearly using him as butt insulation against the cold stone. "He's really just worried about me."

"I know." Tony massaged her knee with one hand, the other draped loosely around her waist.

"He doesn't want me dating or having sex, _really_ doesn't want me pregnant, but he also has only _just_ started warming up to college. What was I supposed to do? Work at the store until I got picked out by a boy like merchandise?!"

Tony winced, and tightened the hug around her waist. He didn't really... _get_ it, he knew that, and he figured it had something to do with religion, because Anya was _really_ serious about her religion, but Tony wasn't going there with a ten foot pole. "Well, what do you want?"

"No one ever asks me that."

"I just did." He kissed her shoulder. "I mean there was this one old scifi show where these aliens would ask people 'what do you want?' but it was creepy and they were trying to corrupt people, but let's pretend my motivations here are pure."

Anya stopped, obviously lost in thought, slowly running her fingers along the back of Tony's hand while they sat there. "And are your intentions pure, Anthony?"

He snorted. "forty-five percent."

"Are you being over-generous?"

"Definitely."

They stayed there, in silence, for a long time, Tony's hands ghosting over side and legs and trying to ease the tension in her back. "I want to go to college. I would _love_ to go to CMU. Not because you're there or because Erik's there, but... it's a really good school, and I have the grades and I have the SATs. I just don't..." She stayed silent for a long time. "Have the money."

Not for the first time, Tony found himself biting down on his own tongue. "Scholarships?"

"Some, and maybe CMU would fork over some money from the start, too, but..." She sighed. "Erik doesn't know about this, mom doesn't know about this and... no offense, you and Charles don't know about this either."

Tony wouldn't know a FAFSA form if it bit him on the ass - hell, he had no idea what the hell a FAFSA form was until two weeks ago. "I know. You can do this, you know."

"Of course I can!" She was all fire, even though he'd seen her a month ago not at all sure of that point. "I feel bad, though."

"Why?"

"I just talk and talk and talk and you listen and you make me think it's all going to work out and be alright." She wiggled, turning so she could look him straight in the eye. "What have I done for you?"

So much. "More than enough, Anya." Forget respectable and sexy and beautiful and intelligent... she was just... _there_. She was probably the first girl - outside of his mom in a totally healthy and non-Oedipal sort of way - who saw him as just a guy, a boy, even, not the cars and the shades and the smile. His life was... easy, except for those few places where it wasn't, and he felt like Anya didn't just want the easy bits, even if he was having trouble sharing the hard bits.

He saw her start to make one of her intentionally over-dramatic huffs, but then she stopped. "Tony..."

"It's more than I want you to deal with."

"And you're... what? Super older than me and way more mature?" She said it lightly, and he smiled in response. "I lost my dad, too, when I was thirteen." He knew that, they'd talked about it before, about what a strain it had put on Erik, about how it had changed all of these equations, family things, life things, plans, futures... Anya had never been particularly encouraged to consider college, but even community college fell of the grid after that. Tony had heard that - listened to it, and he really hadn't gotten it, but he had listened and nodded and told Anya she was completely worth it.

But that was different from talking about it for himself.

"Up you go."

She did sigh this time, but got off of his lap and held out her hands to help him up, kissed him when he was up on his feet, and then they were slowly walking back towards campus.

"I'm sorry," he said, hugging her around the shoulder. "I've never really told anyone all of it. I mean... Charles, yeah, but..." He shook his head.

"That's alright, Tony."

"Don't say it's alright." He said it impulsively. Not hard, not accusatory, not mean just... begging, almost.

"Alright," she answered. "It's not alright to not tell me."

They were both silent for a long stretch. Barely shuffling down the street.

"It was..." He had no idea what to even say. "All... seeing thestrals or something."

She squeezed his hand. "You don't need second hand allegory, Tony."

She was right, he didn't. He knew she knew most of it already, it was just the idea of putting it all out there, saying it outright, that terrified him. He thought... maybe if she saw all those cracks in between his smile she might not like him nearly as much anymore. He took a deep breath.

"I saw my dad die. Not... look and he's alive, look back and he's dead... I saw..." He tilted his head at an awkward angle, not nearly as far as his father's head had snapped, but that was how it had gone. "And then Charles crashed into me, limp and bleeding and..." He just stopped, stopped walking, stopped moving, and felt like he might have stopped breathing.

But Anya wrapped her arms around him and he couldn't _not_ hug her back and his arms went around her and they squeezed each other on that stupid little bridge over the railway tracks, clinging tight, her pressing him up against the safety grate and she just kissed him, hard, and he had to kiss her back and by the time she pulled away he was...

Moving again.

"I'm not sentimental." He was so, so sentimental.

Anya just nodded with this little quirk on her lips that said she thought he was being exceptionally dumb.

"I really... don't... get attached."

She nodded.

"I don't want to lose you."

Anya pressed her palms to his chest, fingers running against the material there, warm finger pads contrasted against cold November air through his too-thin t-shirt. He shivered. "I... can't say you won't."

He pulled her to him, pressed tight to him, clinging for dear life. "I know."

A few cars went over the bridge while they held on to each other. Tony was feeling a bit better now, a bit more whole, Anya was still there, still hugging him, still willing to let him close.

"Can I try to keep you anyway?" He finally asked.

"Of course."

"Can I take you home and make out some?"

"I would love to." They pulled away from each other and threaded their arms around and started to walk up Forbes again. "Thank you for telling me."

"That I want to make out with you?" She glowered at him, her non-serious glower. "It's been a long time... I thought... I would get over it, you know?"

"I don't think you really do..." She said. "Sometimes... well dad was never big on school, but sometimes I do something, a good grade or something, and I just wish I could show him and then... he's not there, so I show Erik, but it's not the same." She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Just _last week_ I was like 'Tony's coming to Thanksgiving, I want to know what dad thinks of him' and then..." She shook her head. "And then I feel like an idiot."

He kissed her shoulder, softly. "I feel the same way."

"Do you really?"

He nodded. "Sometimes I'm down in the lab... hopped up on too much soda and coffee and sugar cereal and I do something _brilliant_ and I think... 'dad's going to think this is awesome!' and then..." He slumped. "And mom..." His mother would have been picking out a mother-of-the-groom dress. "Mom would have loved you."

"Dad would have hated you."

"That's too bad." It stung, actually. He wasn't an asshole, he was just... an irresponsible man-child with the emotional maturity of a ten year old.

"It wouldn't have been because of _you_ , it's just like..." She tilted her head at the school, CMU, right next to them. "You'd be like... this Big Boss man, or something. Steel Mill boss."

"I thought there were no steel mills in Pittsburgh anymore."

Anya kicked her foot against the pavement. "Right because it cost too much and imports from China and jobs and OSHA and blah blah blah."

"Oh." Apparently Tony was the physical embodiment of American capitalism... which... if he was being honest wasn't a totally unfair assessment. "I could buy you Alcoa."

She kicked his shin.

"Ow!"

He probably deserved that. No, he took that back, he definitely deserved that.

"I don't actually run Stark Industries, you know... too young. I might spend corporate resources to etch my girlfriend's name in the moon or something."

Something was wrong, Anya wasn't smiling at him, wasn't sticking her tongue out or laughing or poking or teasing him, and he stopped, picked up her wrist and looked her in the eye.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"That's not 'nothing', Anya. I said something wrong... I always say something wrong..."

"Tony. I just... I'm not smarter than you, I'm not prettier than you, I'm sure not richer than you, I'm not sleeping with you, so... why? You can just... buy companies because it's funny."

He was an idiot. Or, more appropriately, an irresponsible man-child with the emotional maturity of a ten year old. "I know this isn't the point but I can't actually buy a company because it's funny... and the rest... you _are_ brilliant. I grew up surrounded by scientists who built atom bombs and circuit boards for fun and they were teaching me how to do that when I was _five_ , knowing more isn't the same as being smarter, and you are very pretty and I can't do much about the rich, but... I like _you_. And you like me for my company - and I don't mean Stark Industries - I mean... Tony." This was getting a bit more close to the chest than he'd really intended but... he took a deep breath. "And you don't care about the bullshit, or maybe you don't even see it, and you make me want there to be less bullshit about me. I want... to be genuine with you. It's a very new feeling and I don't want to give that up. I'm not used to this feeling."

She laughed, watery; she was crying.

"And... that day you tried to seduce me - time number one, not time number two - I freaked out, I freaked out because I wanted to do the right thing for the first time in a really long time." He took a deep breath. "OK?"

She gave him a weak nod.

"That was too many feelings at one time."

Anya laughed again. "Come on. I promised you some making out."

"We don't have to..."

"Hush."

Tony was not going to argue. They ended up together in his room, Anya leaning him against the door and kissing his neck, hands raking down his chest. Jackets were shucked away, and the two of them ran their hands over each other, Anya kissing his neck and running her hands up under his shirt. It was - perhaps bizarrely - affirming, and Tony let himself enjoy that.

They'd only done this a few times, kissing and touching, hands everywhere and jitters high. He hadn't been lying when he said he felt a bit like a teenager again... never mind that he was still a teenager. There was, however, something fundamentally delightful about having a young woman straddling you and kissing your neck, and making your brain short out so much you couldn't even begin to think about robots.

"Tony?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I..." She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. "I want to try giving a blow job."

"Oh dear lord." His brain was fried now. Think. The answer here was yes. "Am I allowed to return the favor?" Because _that_ would be a very nice way to spend a Friday night.

"I thought most boys don't like..."

"Mmm... most boys. Idiots. I think we know that there is one thing I am absolutely not."

"Right." She smiled down at him, nose crinkling. "You're a genius."

She nodded, though. Tony rolled them over, kissing down Anya's belly before tackling the button of her fly.

A real genius, however, would have remembered he was going out for Saturday morning pancakes with Erik and Charles and that would mean he probably shouldn't have kept his best friend's boyfriend's little sister in his bed all night three-quarters naked and one hundred percent wrapped around him, because _someone_ was going to come and wake him up and there was a slightly greater than fifty percent chance that that someone would be Erik Lehnsherr.

He realized this, however, well into the third knock on the door. "Tony, wake up!" Oh good, it _was_ Erik.

Tony tumbled magnificently out of bed, landing on one foot and one knee with a muffled thump and then an ouch.

"Are you alright?" Anya mumbled, distinctly loud enough that he didn't think he'd be able to hide her in the bathroom, because the only thing worse than Erik thinking that Tony and Anya had slept together last night was the Erik thinking that Tony had slept with anyone _but_ Anya last night.

"I am going to kill you, Tony," Erik said, almost singsong, through the door. Oh dear.

"Put on a shirt, your brother is at the door!" He got up, found some pants, got one leg into them before he realized they were not his pants, kicked them off - found his actual pants - and pulled them up, buttoning them and answering the door only to find Erik... yeah, looking a bit homicidal. "In my defense, your sister is adorable."

"I have to take a shower before I go." Right... girlfriend in his shower while her brother was glowering at him.

Anya was wearing _his_ shirt, one of his shirts, his Batman shirt, actually, and no pants. A few moments later she scooped up her own pants and shirt... oh and her bra, great. He took a deep breath and Anya shut the door to the bathroom.

"Tony, can you at least not do this under my damn nose?"

Tony crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave Erik a very arched eyebrow of dismissiveness. "Look, it's not my fault you aren't taking advantage of my baby brother."

Erik gaped at him.

"I mean, I don't understand, who wouldn't want to take advantage - aside from me, because... pseudo-incestuous and Westermarck effect and all, but... really." There was a distinct lack of wisdom in having this conversation with Anya just on the other side of the door - shower turned on, though - but it really was starting to bother him a bit.

"I just..." Erik frowned, took a few steps into the room, and then sat down in a chair. Tony grabbed his own chair, flipped it around, and then straddled it as he looked Erik in the eyes. "This is going to get back to Charles, isn't it?"

"In general, yes." He was occasionally one of those people who understood that the truth hurt and that one did not always want the unvarnished truth, but... well it really depended what Erik said, or didn't say. Tony was honestly surprised his huffy misdirection worked; clearly Erik was having some Issues.

"I'm nervous. I've never loved someone like I do Charles."

Erik acted as though it was easy for Tony - or anyone else - to maintain some sort of affection. Just because Anya was easily lovable and kept him on a tight leash emotionally... and there was a thought not to have hanging out with her brother... didn't mean it was just easy to put everything away and make it work just because you wanted to. "Right."

Erik frowned at him. "Don't just say 'right' like that means something."

"So, what?"

"I'm a bit scared it's not going to be worth it..." Tony was going to break that son of a bitch's jaw. "And I'm _terrified_ it will be."

Oh.

Tony could deal with that. His glance to the bathroom to make certain the shower was still running ended up lingering as he considered exactly that issue about a fiery little redhead. "Just... rip the band aid off, Lehnsherr. And do it quickly, because I have this whole rule book of guidelines on how I will murder you if you break Charles' heart." He stood up. "And just FYI? Your sister, totally worth it and I'm still fucking terrified."

Erik glowered, slightly, but he didn't say anything else, caught up in his own thoughts. It seemed they had reached, at least for the transient moment, an understanding that Tony thought Anya was amazing and Erik thought Charles was amazing, and they still were both horrible failures when it came to expressing that correctly.

Anya exited the bathroom, dressed in yesterday's jeans, still wearing his Batman shirt, and drying off her hair.

"Heading home?"

She nodded, and he got up to hug her and kiss her cheek.

"Thank you, for everything, for last night."

Anya gave him a proper kiss. "You, too." And then she was heading out of the room. "I want him back in one piece, Erik. See you this afternoon."

Erik looked like he was going to have an aneurysm.

 _Thanks for last night_. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Would you believe that was relatively innocent and devoid of sexual connotations within the context of the last twelve hours?"

"No."

"OK. I'm going to go shower now, be ready in thirty."

Erik was going to murder him, he just knew it.


End file.
